The Origins of the Final Solution

An internationally renowned historian of the Holocaust, Browning explainsthe evolution of Nazi anti-Jewish policies from discrimination andexpulsions to outright systematic murder. Once the Nazis had seized powerin 1933, the exclusion of Jews from German and European society wasinevitable, but there initially existed no premeditated plan for genocide.Based on a superb mastery of the archival sources and the secondaryliterature, Browning leads his readers through the step-by-stepradicalization of Nazi policies in the critical months after the outbreakof WWII. Occupied Poland was the "laboratory of racial policy," where Nazifunctionaries experimented with expulsions and shootings of Jews whileregular army officers essentially caved in to the brutalities of the SS.But all the plans for expulsion ran aground, Browning shows, due to theexigencies of war. In the wake of the invasion of the Soviet Union, masskillings became the policy of choice to solve the Nazis' self-imposed"Jewish problem." Browning argues that at every stage, the "euphoria ofvictory" in the war led to a radicalization of policies against Jews. Eventhough Hitler rarely issued explicit orders, Browning shows he wasintimately involved each step of the way. Not every reader will want towade through the immense detail that Browning (Ordinary Men: Reserve PoliceBattalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland) so skillfully lays out, andsome may find bewildering the array of individuals and agencies involved inthe Final Solution. Still, this book is sure to become the standard work onthe emergence of the Holocaust. 3 maps not seen by PW.Copyright Š Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Allrights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailableedition of this title.